Lake Mills vocalists earn high honors - Winnebago County Tribune

Outstanding Lake Mills vocalists selected for honor choirs this fall include, from left: Breckynn Smith, Ella Sletten, Adeline Sletten, Aiden Reese, Cristal Vasquez Perez, Alondra Perez-Retas, Lillian Young, Ava Menke, and Grant Rentz.

Six students from Lake Mills Community School have earned the honor of being named All-State vocalists this year. This is the highest individual honor available to Iowa musicians in grades 5-12.

Five of these students were selected from among 3,000 auditions for the 2025 All-Iowa Opus Honor Choirs. Opus is the All-State choir for grades 5-9. Students selected are: 6th grade students Breckynn Smith (daughter of Carrie & Jeremy Smith) and Ella Sletten (daughter of Nate & Mindy Sletten); 9th grade students: Aiden Reese (son of Amanda & Dustin Reese), Adeline Sletten (daughter of Nate & Mindy Sletten), and Cristal Vazquez Perez (daughter of Luis Vazquez & Yahaira Perez).

Lake Mills senior Ava Menke will make her debut at the Iowa All-State Music Festival this week in Ames, where she will perform with the All-State Chorus. She is the daughter of Kyle and Marie Menke, and she plans to attend Iowa State University next fall.

Senior chorus member Ava Menke (daughter of Kyle & Marie Menke) was selected for the 2025 Iowa All-State High School Chorus. She represents the top 1% of Iowa High School musicians.

The All-State Festival will be held November 20-22 on the Iowa State Campus in Ames. Students, directors, parents, and fellow music lovers converge on the campus each year during this festival to hear the state’s top musicians.

Iowa Public Television will record the High School All-State Festival Concert for re-broadcast. Check the IPBS website (www.iowapbs.org) for the exact dates and times. This program is under the auspices of the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa Music Educators Association.

In addition to the Iowa All-State ensembles, seven LMCS vocal students have been selected for the 2026 American Choral Directors Association Midwest Honor Choirs. Students from the ten-state Midwest region auditioned for these prestigious honor choirs, which will perform at the regional conference in Milwaukee, WI in February. Students selected are: 8th grader Grant Rentz (son of Josh and Laura Rentz); 9th graders Aiden Reese, Adeline Sletten, and Cristal Vazquez Perez; 10th grader Alondra Perez-Rentas (daughter of Barbara Rentas & Elioscar Perez); 11th grader Lillian Young (daughter of Tracy Young & Brian Young); and 12 grader Ava Menke.

These students are under the direction of LMCS 6-12 Vocal Music Director Linda Larson.